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I have been experiencing this balance issue for some time now -
I just sent my gimbal to be tuned but am still having the same problem. I cant find any play or slipping anywhere else on the rig (top stage, monitor, bats, etc.)
Wondering If anyone has seen this before on an older Tiffen rig?
Thanks!

Question about rig accuracy and balance:
Howdy!
I fly an older Clipper 24 with tilt stage, ultrabrite monitor and V mount battery hanger. I’ve grown to really like flying with a very slow drop time, sometimes almost neutral.
Recently I’ve run into a problem:
After trimming the rig it flys fine but after resting in on my shoulder or doing a larger tilt move I find it is thrown out of balance. It’s not drastic but enough that I have to retrim every time. Sometimes something as gentle as a drop time test will throw it off. It’s consistently in the direction that it tilt (tilt forward and the rig becomes front heavy).
I have combed through every inch of the rig looking for a loose part and have found nothing. I’ve also tried balancing without the monitor or batteries and it still won’t hold balance. (Just to be clear I’m using a weight plate as a camera, which I have also checked thoroughly so it’s not a loose camera part.. it’s gotta be something on the rig). Top stage is tight, the plate isn’t slipping, monitor and batteries aren’t moving..
After pulling the entire rig apart and feeling very certain I’ve checked everything that could possible be moving,
I raise the question: am I just asking too much of my (older) rig? Is flying with such a neutral drop time just not practice with an older rig?
Wondering if anyone has any ideas or has run into anything like this before.
Anything helps.. I’m stumped!
Thanks!
Sawyer

Question about rig accuracy and balance:
I fly an older Clipper 24 with tilt stage, ultrabrite monitor and V mount battery hanger. I’ve grown to really like flying with a very slow drop time, sometimes almost neutral.
Recently I’ve run into a problem:
After trimming the rig it flys fine but after resting in on my shoulder or doing a larger tilt move I find it is thrown out of balance. It’s not drastic but enough that I have to retrim every time. Sometimes something as gentle as a drop time test will throw it off. It’s consistently in the direction that it tilt (tilt forward and the rig becomes front heavy).
I have combed through every inch of the rig looking for a loose part and have found nothing. I’ve also tried balancing without the monitor or batteries and it still won’t hold balance. (Just to be clear I’m using a weight plate as a camera, which I have also checked thoroughly so it’s not a loose camera part.. it’s gotta be something on the rig). Top stage is tight, the plate isn’t slipping, monitor and batteries aren’t moving..
After pulling the entire rig apart and feeling very certain I’ve checked everything that could possible be moving,
I raise the question: am I just asking too much of my (older) rig? Is flying with such a neutral drop time just not practice with an older rig?
Wondering if anyone has any ideas or has run into anything like this before.
Anything helps.. I’m stumped!
Thanks!
Sawyer

Hey team,
So I got clipped by a wheelchair rugby player, went down rather hard, seemed to be fine. The only thing I broke was the monitor yoke that Frederic Sturm makes. He sent me a new one so was all good to go. Now I haven't touched the rig for a while and puled it out on Friday in prep for a job and find that the sled can not be balanced no matter how hard I try.
The problem:
I static balance, rotate 180 degrees & I am vastly out of balance. If I balance up again, rotate 180 again, I am back out of balance by a lot. Also the sled will spin to find its lowest cog.
Model:
Steadicam Zephyr with the extra bits Frederic Stum wonderfully makes.
I am guessing it has something to do with the gimbal. That said, it is rather perplexing as to what would cause this. Any one have any ideas? Is this something I can try to adjust on my own?
I am most likely going to send it in to get looked at unless someone has direct experience that I can reasonably follow.
Thanks peeps in advance.
Nat J

I have a question regarding the dynamics involved with Balancing the rig. I have noticed that often (if not all the time) when I balance the rig on the Hill bracket and dock in order to pick up the sled I then will have to do some minor tuning of the balance when the sled is mounted to my body via the arm. The adjustments are allways very minor, maybe 1/8th of a revolution of the DBIII knobs yet I constantly find myself having to make that minor balance adjustment, It is rather insignificant but it does take time and i'm curious to what could be causing this. The Gimbal has just come back from a major service from pro. Both the fore and aft and side to side seem to need this minor tweak. Is their a logic to this or does the problem exist purely between the vest and the ground.
regards.

Hello, I was wondering if there are any specific practices to do when operating (or even when not operating) to work on improving feet/leg movement/placement. My posture seems to be fine, but sometimes I will find myself getting my legs getting into weird positions or I will walk irregularly. My Professor also noticed this, he described my movements as getting myself stuck in figurative corners, limiting my range of movement. Thank You.

Hi Guys,
I work as a 1st with the same Operator and we've noticed a problem has developed in obtaining a Dynamic Balance, would love to know if anyone has experienced or heard of this before, and open for all suggestions to fix.
After a buy the book setup is complete, achieving good monitor position, drop time and Static Balance we then proceed to spin and/or drop the camera side on to test for dynamic balance. Once the Dynamic balance has been achieved, the camera will always rest in tilting up position. So we Re-Static Balance the camera which in turn always creates a monitor(fore) heavy Dynamic Balance. No matter what combination of battery in, monitor out, camera forward or back, drop time, etc.. you can only obtain a good Static balance with a monitor(fore) heavy dynamic balance OR a good Dynamic balance with the camera resting in a tilted up position. Interestingly the tilted position seems to be fairly consistent without putting an inclinometer on it. Also we have tuned the gimbal to take this out of the equation.
Thanks Steve

I have recentely purchased a steadicam Merlin. Balanced it after 30 min, put on an accesory and haven't manged to balance it again for days and days. Watched all tutorials and videos, read through many forum opinions and links, read all instructions, cookbooks, magic formulas and the like Camera: 5D MII, 17-40mm Canon Lens. Merlin on hole "N" with nose weight 1 mid+1 finish, lower weights 3 mid+ 1 finish. drop time under control After I discovered a strange thing about my Merlin, by mistake. I wonder if it's normal or if it's damaged in some way and thus my impossibility to balance it properly. I have the Merlin set up on the original bracket so it's easier to handle. Please watch the video, it's a much better explanation than the textual one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYwyaxJgGpQ&feature=youtu.be This is the strange issue: I can only balance it if I turn the grip at a certain angle (25-30 degrees) on the Y(vertical) axis, relative to the position of the grip with the place where you put your fingers aligned parallel with the Merlin spars. If the grip si facing forward (as the Merlin nose weights are, for example) I can not get it to balance whatever I do, even when bottom heavy. If I turn the grip at that certain angle something seems to turn with (inside?) the gimbal and I have a steady point to balance the Merlin on. Is it normal to be able to balance the Merlin only under those conditions and not to be able to rotate and turn the grip independently with the camera holding steady? I don't think it should be... As seen in the video, the Merlin displays some friction between one edge of the ball holding the gimbal and the inner wall of the cylinder ring, if rotated (camera un-mounted and stage turned on a side). I would like your opinions on this. Will send the video to Tiffen as well. Is this behavior normal as I'm a beginner at this or is there something wrong with this particular Merlin unit?